Yet, another media server change.

 


The SimpleDLNA media server has been replaced by the Emby media server, which, may in turn, be replaced by the Jellyfin media server.

The reason for the change arose from the server not loading external subtitles. There are subtitles files built into a video file, and there are subtitles files that occur as separate files, known as external subtitles.

There are over two hundred movies in my collection that have external subtitles files. Those would be excluded by the SimpleDLNA media server.

The software is on github and someone forked the software and supposedly modified the source code to load external subtitles. I tried that version with no success.

There is a media server, more sophisticated than others, that started out on github as open source, but became proprietary. A free version was made available as well as a fee based version.

There were obstacles to overcome installing and running the software on an older laptop, the T61. Eventually, I succeeded. The system has stabilized. There are a couple of drawbacks though.

1. Not all images are stored offline. This means some images will not be loaded when the system is offline.

2. There is an occasional popup that advertises the fee based version. A timer counts down several seconds and a 'Continue' button lights up.

3. There is a version that I've added from the online 'LG Content' store. Under certain circumstances, not often encountered, there occurs a double image screening of two pages, i.e. two different screen images overlap. The problem is easily corrected, but is surprising the first time.

Someone decided to make their own version of a media server using the old code from github. The name is Jellyfin. That version is completely free and has most of the features of Emby. There is also an LG app in the works.

There are Emby hacks available, that I haven't tried, as well as other media servers. I may try the Jellyfin server and use that one. I don't know yet.

Fortunately, the media servers tried so far coexist on the laptop with no apparent conflict. I can run any one of them.

I liked SimpleDLNA but the need for subtitles determines whether I will use a given program/app.

One major difference between Emby and the others is the Emby GUI and the LG app. The miniDLNA and SimpleDLNA software show up as external inputs on the TV menu, as do the USB drives attached to the router. This is while I may stick with Emby or Jellyfin. Emby is like Media Companion with DLNA access.



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